Digital Reputations

I've not read the book The Future of Reputation, but the fact that it's freely available and comes recommended by Danah Boyd is good enough for me:

This book examines the darker side of personal expression and communication online, looking at some of the social costs of what I'm always rambling on about as "persistence, searchability, replicability, and invisible audiences." Our reputation is one of our greatest assets. What happens when our own acts or the acts of others sully that? What role does the technology play in enabling or stopping that? How should the law modernize its approach to privacy and slander to address the networked world?

Reputations play a crucial role in the free software world - a good reason to give the book a whirl.